Floppy Diskette Seek Failure

computershack

Apples2 wrote: »

Are they expensive??

I paid 99p for the last one I bought 2 weeks ago for a laptop I was refurbishing. They're a bog standard lithium watch battery, nothing else.

If you look at the picture below, you can see the CR number of that battery. Others put it below their logo but you get the idea..

basmic

Apples2 wrote: »

Are they expensive??

99% of motherboards use CR2032 batteries, and you can get these from any jeweller/watch repair shop for about £2, tops.

Taffybiker

You can easily prove if it's the battery by going back into the BIOS and see if the settings you changed are still what you changed them to, although most times I would expect to see a CMOS ERROR during startup.

Iconic

computershack wrote: »

I suspect that the CMOS battery is flat so its not storing the settings once the power has been turned off. This means you go into BIOS, alter the settings and they'll remain up until the power is turned off at which point they revert to default which means it searches for a floppy drive during POST.

It is approx 5 years old so the timing is about right. If you take the top off the Dimension, the CMOS battery is a watch battery and clearly visible. Just take it out and go down your local pound shop and buy another. There'll be a number on it, such as CR2032, that is the size you need. Once you've replaced it, you'll find that it'll remember the settings and the message will disappear.

Makes complete sense but the clock is still showing the right time
Unfortunately I have not got a CR2032 so it will have to wait for a few days before I can change it.

Taffybiker

Iconic wrote: »

Makes complete sense but the clock is still showing the right time

Often the Windows clock will sync with a time server, the BIOS clock being over ridden.

computershack

And remember it won't lose settings until the power is turned off. If you just shut down Windows, it'll still hold the settings as the PSU is stillsupplying the motherboard - shut down is actually the equivalent of standby on your telly. Turn it off at the wall socket for a few minutes, turn it back on and immediately go into BIOS. See what date and time it thinks it is. If its the CMOS battery, you should find that it should be years out and at however many seconds/minutes after 00:00:00 hrs it took to get to the main BIOS settings page.

Iconic

computershack wrote: »

And remember it won't lose settings until the power is turned off. If you just shut down Windows, it'll still hold the settings as the PSU is stillsupplying the motherboard - shut down is actually the equivalent of standby on your telly. Turn it off at the wall socket for a few minutes, turn it back on and immediately go into BIOS. See what date and time it thinks it is. If its the CMOS battery, you should find that it should be years out and at however many seconds/minutes after 00:00:00 hrs it took to get to the main BIOS settings page.

I have tried switching it off at the plug and the clock still shows the right time. Can't be the CMOS battery then

Taffybiker

If it's a laptop you will need to remove the battery as well as switching off at the plug.

computershack

Its a Dell Dimension 5100 so is a desktop. Not looking like the CMOS battery then but I'd change it at 5 years old anyway as its about at end of life.